Cameron was considered one of the first great rushing and scoring defencemen.[1] He scored 88 goals in 128 games in the NHL. He was also famous for his "curved shot" similar to that of today's curved hockey sticks.[1] Cameron was the first player in NHL history to achieve what was later called a "Gordie Howe hat trick", doing so on December 26, 1917 during a 7-5 defeat of the Montreal Canadiens.[2] In later years, he moved to Vancouver, British Columbia where he resided when he died in 1953.[1] He was inducted posthumously into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1963.[3]
Cameron, seated at far left, with the 1910–11 Pembroke Debaters. Frank Nighbor is seated at far right.
Born in Pembroke, Ontario, Cameron played with the Pembroke Debaters club from 1908 until 1911, before becoming a professional with the Port Arthur Lake City of the Northern Ontario Hockey League (NOHL). The transaction is also famous as he demanded that his friend Frank Nighbor also be signed.[1] While playing with Nighbor in the Upper Ottawa Valley Hockey League (UOVHL) during the 1910–11 season, the Pembroke Debaters won the Citizen Shield after having defeated Vankleek Hill 10 goals to 8.[4] The 1911–12 Port Arthur team also featured future Hockey Hall of Fame member Jack Walker.
Cameron, along with Nighbor, joined the Toronto Blueshirts of the National Hockey Association (NHA) for the 1912–13 season and stayed with the organization until the NHA suspended the franchise in the 1916–17 season, including the 1914 Stanley Cup win. He was picked up by the Montreal Wanderers for the balance of the season, playing six games for the Redbands. In 1917–18 he returned to the Blueshirts, now a franchise in the National Hockey League (NHL), operated by the Toronto Arena Company in their Stanley Cup-winning season. Cameron was the highest-paid player on the 1917–18 Toronto Arenas with a salary of $900, whereas his teammates' salaries ranged from $450 to $750.[5]
In 1918–19, Cameron was loaned to the Ottawa Senators and returned from the Senators in the 1919–20 season to the Toronto team, now named the Toronto St. Pats (St. Patricks). He was traded to the Montreal Canadiens in January 1920 (for Goldie Prodgers[6]), but returned to Toronto the following fall when he was traded back to the club (again for Prodgers, and Joe Matte). The 1920–21 through 1922–23 seasons saw Cameron stay with the St. Pats, winning another Stanley Cup in 1922, the third for Toronto in the NHA and NHL.
After the Stanley Cup win, Cameron was released, and he spent three seasons as a playing coach for the Saskatoon Crescents of the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) where he switched to forward. After the Western League was folded and its players absorbed in the NHL, Cameron was not picked up, and he joined a succession of minor league teams in Saskatoon, Minneapolis, and St. Louis before retiring in 1931. He joined the Saskatoon team in 1932–33, playing nine games. He then left the playing side of the game for good, and became the Saskatoon coach from 1934 through 1937.
Playing style
"Cameron, on the visiting defence, was the outstanding player on their team. His speedy corkscrew rushes often proved dangerous, and, altho he had trouble carrying the puck over the sticky ice, his work in this respect was very effective."
Cameron was a strong puck carrying defenseman who could electrify the crowd with his speedy rushes up the ice,[8] end-to-end rushes which also made him a viable goal scoring threat in the face of the opposing teams, as he was also a crafty stickhandler.[9] During his first two seasons in the NHA with the Toronto Blueshirts Cameron made a strong defensive pairing with Jack Marshall, and even though Cameron was only of average height (5 ft 10 in) and weight (155 lb) he could still use his body on the defensive side of the puck to stop oncoming opponents.[10] Later on, with the Toronto Arenas, he would pair with big-bodied defenseman Harry Mummery (220 lb). In the NHL Cameron had among his defensive partners Sprague Cleghorn (Ottawa Senators and Toronto St. Patricks) and Red Stuart (Toronto St. Patricks).
Curved shot
"However, Harry Cameron, who had been playing an excellent brand of hockey, with but a few minutes of the first period remaining, let loose a wicked shot from outside the defence and beat the 'wizard of the nets' for St. Patricks initial score."
Cameron had also a hard shot which landed him many goals throughout his hockey career, and he was one of the few players at the time who could curve his shot. Long time New York Rangers right winger Bill Cook, a teammate of Cameron with the Saskatoon Crescents of the WCHL and the WHL from 1923–1926, claimed Cameron could shoot curving pucks. Left winger Cy Denneny, a teammate of Cameron on the 1915–16 Toronto Blueshirts and the 1918–19 Ottawa Senators, was another player who could do the same trick, but both Cameron and Denneny employed specially scooped sticks for the deed. The players on the 1930–31 New York Rangers (including Cook, Leo Bourgeault, Frank Boucher, Murray Murdoch, John Ross Roach, and Eddie Rodden), in a newspaper interview with Harold C. Burr of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, agreed that there was no one in the National Hockey League at that time who could fire off a curved vulcanized rubber disk in the same type of fashion.[12] Cameron for the 1930–31 season had taken his hockey playing services to the St. Louis Flyers of the AHA.
Although hockey sticks at the time were made almost exclusively with straight blades, Frank Boucher once claimed that Cameron played with a stick that was "crooked like a sabre", which allowed him to make his shots drop or veer to either side.[13] Nevertheless, a small handful of contemporary players like Gordie Roberts were able to curve the path of pucks simply by wrist action, and modern historians speculate that Cameron had this ability as well.[1]
Career statistics
Cameron, second from the right in the front row, with the 1913–14 Toronto Blueshirts.
Cameron, in the upper right corner, with the 1917–18 Toronto Arenas.
Hockey Hall of Fame (2003). Honoured Members: Hockey Hall of Fame. Bolton, Ontario: Fenn Publishing. ISBN1-55168-239-7.
Podnieks, Andrew (2003). Players: the ultimate A-Z guide of everyone who has ever played in the NHL. Toronto, Ontario: Doubleday Canada. ISBN0-385-25999-9.
^"Ottawa Senators blank St. Patricks", The Toronto World. 1921-03-11. Retrieved 2018-11-23.
^"Torontos takes fall from Canadiens by two goals" ("The players") The Toronto World. 1913-02-13. Retrieved 2018-12-23.
^"Saints in first position; down the Senators" ("Cameron a Star") The Toronto World. 1921-02-17. Retrieved 2018-12-23.
^"Torontos show dazzling speed – hand Ontarios good beating" ("Some Good Team Play") The Toronto World. 1914-01-08. Retrieved 2018-11-23.
^"St. Pats came from behind to beat Canadiens", The Montreal Gazette. 1920-12-27. Retrieved 2018-11-23.
^"Rangers' new sticks for Quaker contest selected with care" ("Not many curve shots in league") Harold C. Burr, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1930-11-29. Retrieved 2018-11-23.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Harry Cameron.
Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or Legends of Hockey, or The Internet Hockey Database
May 08, 2023
harry, cameron, australian, rugby, league, footballer, rugby, league, harold, hugh, cameron, february, 1890, october, 1953, canadian, hockey, defenceman, played, professionally, toronto, blueshirts, toronto, arenas, ottawa, senators, toronto, pats, montreal, c. For the Australian rugby league footballer see Harry Cameron rugby league Harold Hugh Cameron February 6 1890 October 20 1953 was a Canadian ice hockey defenceman who played professionally for the Toronto Blueshirts Toronto Arenas Ottawa Senators Toronto St Pats and Montreal Canadiens Cameron won three Stanley Cups in his career his first as a member of the 1913 14 Toronto Blueshirts his second as a member of the 1917 18 Blueshirts Arenas and his third as a member of the 1921 22 Toronto St Pats all predecessor clubs of the Toronto Maple Leafs Harry CameronHockey Hall of Fame 1963Born 1890 02 06 February 6 1890Pembroke Ontario CanadaDiedOctober 20 1953 1953 10 20 aged 63 Vancouver British Columbia CanadaHeight5 ft 10 in 178 cm Weight155 lb 70 kg 11 st 1 lb PositionDefenceShotRightPlayed forToronto BlueshirtsToronto ArenasOttawa SenatorsMontreal CanadiensToronto St PatricksSaskatoon SheiksMinneapolis MillersSt Louis FlyersPlaying career1912 1933Cameron was considered one of the first great rushing and scoring defencemen 1 He scored 88 goals in 128 games in the NHL He was also famous for his curved shot similar to that of today s curved hockey sticks 1 Cameron was the first player in NHL history to achieve what was later called a Gordie Howe hat trick doing so on December 26 1917 during a 7 5 defeat of the Montreal Canadiens 2 In later years he moved to Vancouver British Columbia where he resided when he died in 1953 1 He was inducted posthumously into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1963 3 Contents 1 Playing career 2 Playing style 2 1 Curved shot 3 Career statistics 3 1 Regular season and playoffs 4 Awards and achievements 5 References 5 1 Notes 6 External linksPlaying career Edit Cameron seated at far left with the 1910 11 Pembroke Debaters Frank Nighbor is seated at far right Born in Pembroke Ontario Cameron played with the Pembroke Debaters club from 1908 until 1911 before becoming a professional with the Port Arthur Lake City of the Northern Ontario Hockey League NOHL The transaction is also famous as he demanded that his friend Frank Nighbor also be signed 1 While playing with Nighbor in the Upper Ottawa Valley Hockey League UOVHL during the 1910 11 season the Pembroke Debaters won the Citizen Shield after having defeated Vankleek Hill 10 goals to 8 4 The 1911 12 Port Arthur team also featured future Hockey Hall of Fame member Jack Walker Cameron along with Nighbor joined the Toronto Blueshirts of the National Hockey Association NHA for the 1912 13 season and stayed with the organization until the NHA suspended the franchise in the 1916 17 season including the 1914 Stanley Cup win He was picked up by the Montreal Wanderers for the balance of the season playing six games for the Redbands In 1917 18 he returned to the Blueshirts now a franchise in the National Hockey League NHL operated by the Toronto Arena Company in their Stanley Cup winning season Cameron was the highest paid player on the 1917 18 Toronto Arenas with a salary of 900 whereas his teammates salaries ranged from 450 to 750 5 In 1918 19 Cameron was loaned to the Ottawa Senators and returned from the Senators in the 1919 20 season to the Toronto team now named the Toronto St Pats St Patricks He was traded to the Montreal Canadiens in January 1920 for Goldie Prodgers 6 but returned to Toronto the following fall when he was traded back to the club again for Prodgers and Joe Matte The 1920 21 through 1922 23 seasons saw Cameron stay with the St Pats winning another Stanley Cup in 1922 the third for Toronto in the NHA and NHL After the Stanley Cup win Cameron was released and he spent three seasons as a playing coach for the Saskatoon Crescents of the Western Canada Hockey League WCHL where he switched to forward After the Western League was folded and its players absorbed in the NHL Cameron was not picked up and he joined a succession of minor league teams in Saskatoon Minneapolis and St Louis before retiring in 1931 He joined the Saskatoon team in 1932 33 playing nine games He then left the playing side of the game for good and became the Saskatoon coach from 1934 through 1937 Playing style Edit Cameron on the visiting defence was the outstanding player on their team His speedy corkscrew rushes often proved dangerous and altho he had trouble carrying the puck over the sticky ice his work in this respect was very effective Toronto World describing Cameron in a game between the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto St Patricks in Ottawa on March 10 1921 7 Cameron was a strong puck carrying defenseman who could electrify the crowd with his speedy rushes up the ice 8 end to end rushes which also made him a viable goal scoring threat in the face of the opposing teams as he was also a crafty stickhandler 9 During his first two seasons in the NHA with the Toronto Blueshirts Cameron made a strong defensive pairing with Jack Marshall and even though Cameron was only of average height 5 ft 10 in and weight 155 lb he could still use his body on the defensive side of the puck to stop oncoming opponents 10 Later on with the Toronto Arenas he would pair with big bodied defenseman Harry Mummery 220 lb In the NHL Cameron had among his defensive partners Sprague Cleghorn Ottawa Senators and Toronto St Patricks and Red Stuart Toronto St Patricks Curved shot Edit However Harry Cameron who had been playing an excellent brand of hockey with but a few minutes of the first period remaining let loose a wicked shot from outside the defence and beat the wizard of the nets for St Patricks initial score Montreal Gazette describing Cameron scoring a goal on Georges Vezina in a game between the Toronto St Patricks and the Montreal Canadiens in Toronto on December 26 1920 11 Cameron had also a hard shot which landed him many goals throughout his hockey career and he was one of the few players at the time who could curve his shot Long time New York Rangers right winger Bill Cook a teammate of Cameron with the Saskatoon Crescents of the WCHL and the WHL from 1923 1926 claimed Cameron could shoot curving pucks Left winger Cy Denneny a teammate of Cameron on the 1915 16 Toronto Blueshirts and the 1918 19 Ottawa Senators was another player who could do the same trick but both Cameron and Denneny employed specially scooped sticks for the deed The players on the 1930 31 New York Rangers including Cook Leo Bourgeault Frank Boucher Murray Murdoch John Ross Roach and Eddie Rodden in a newspaper interview with Harold C Burr of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle agreed that there was no one in the National Hockey League at that time who could fire off a curved vulcanized rubber disk in the same type of fashion 12 Cameron for the 1930 31 season had taken his hockey playing services to the St Louis Flyers of the AHA Although hockey sticks at the time were made almost exclusively with straight blades Frank Boucher once claimed that Cameron played with a stick that was crooked like a sabre which allowed him to make his shots drop or veer to either side 13 Nevertheless a small handful of contemporary players like Gordie Roberts were able to curve the path of pucks simply by wrist action and modern historians speculate that Cameron had this ability as well 1 Career statistics Edit Cameron second from the right in the front row with the 1913 14 Toronto Blueshirts Cameron in the upper right corner with the 1917 18 Toronto Arenas Regular season and playoffs Edit Regular season PlayoffsSeason Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM1908 09 Pembroke Debaters UOVHL 6 13 0 13 1909 10 Pembroke Debaters UOVHL 8 17 0 17 1910 11 Pembroke Debaters UOVHL 6 9 1 10 8 2 4 4 8 01911 12 Port Arthur Lake City NOHL 15 6 0 6 48 2 2 0 2 01912 13 Toronto Blueshirts NHA 20 9 0 9 20 1913 14 Toronto Blueshirts NHA 19 15 4 19 22 2 0 2 2 61913 14 Toronto Blueshirts St Cup 3 1 0 1 41914 15 Toronto Blueshirts NHA 17 12 8 20 43 1915 16 Toronto Blueshirts NHA 24 8 3 11 70 1916 17 Toronto Blueshirts NHA 14 8 4 12 20 1916 17 Montreal Wanderers NHA 6 1 1 2 9 1917 18 Toronto Arenas NHL 21 17 10 27 28 2 1 2 3 01917 18 Toronto Arenas St Cup 5 3 1 4 121918 19 Toronto Arenas NHL 7 6 2 8 9 1918 19 Ottawa Senators NHL 7 5 1 6 26 5 4 0 4 261919 20 Toronto St Patricks NHL 7 3 0 3 6 1919 20 Montreal Canadiens NHL 16 12 5 17 36 1920 21 Toronto St Patricks NHL 24 18 9 27 35 2 0 0 0 21921 22 Toronto St Patricks NHL 24 18 17 35 22 2 0 2 2 81921 22 Toronto St Patricks St Cup 4 0 2 2 141922 23 Toronto St Patricks NHL 22 9 7 16 27 1923 24 Saskatoon Crescents WCHL 29 10 10 20 16 1924 25 Saskatoon Crescents WCHL 28 13 7 20 21 2 1 0 1 01925 26 Saskatoon Crescents WHL 30 9 3 12 12 2 0 0 0 01926 27 Saskatoon Sheiks PHL 31 26 19 45 20 4 1 0 1 41927 28 Minneapolis Millers AHA 19 2 3 5 32 1928 29 St Louis Flyers AHA 34 14 3 17 30 1929 30 St Louis Flyers AHA 46 14 6 20 34 1930 31 St Louis Flyers AHA 37 4 3 7 30 1932 33 Saskatoon Crescents WCHL 9 0 0 0 4 NHA totals 100 53 20 73 184 2 0 2 2 6WCHL WHL totals 87 32 20 52 49 4 1 0 1 4St Cup totals 12 4 3 7 30NHL totals 128 88 51 139 189 11 5 4 9 16 Stanley Cup championAwards and achievements EditStanley Cup 1914 with Toronto Blueshirts 1918 with Toronto Arenas and 1922 with Toronto St Patricks Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1963References EditHockey Hall of Fame 2003 Honoured Members Hockey Hall of Fame Bolton Ontario Fenn Publishing ISBN 1 55168 239 7 Podnieks Andrew 2003 Players the ultimate A Z guide of everyone who has ever played in the NHL Toronto Ontario Doubleday Canada ISBN 0 385 25999 9 Notes Edit a b c d e Podnieks p 119 Shea Kevin Wilson Jason 2016 The Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club Official Centennial Publication McClelland amp Stewart ISBN 9780771079290 Hockey Hall of Fame 2003 Pembroke team carried off Citizen Shield and the Ottawa Valley Hockey Honors Ottawa Citizen 1911 03 02 Retrieved 2018 11 23 Comparison of hockey expenses Pittsburgh Post Gazette 1929 12 23 Retrieved 2018 12 23 Harry Cameron Transactions hockey reference com Ottawa Senators blank St Patricks The Toronto World 1921 03 11 Retrieved 2018 11 23 Torontos takes fall from Canadiens by two goals The players The Toronto World 1913 02 13 Retrieved 2018 12 23 Saints in first position down the Senators Cameron a Star The Toronto World 1921 02 17 Retrieved 2018 12 23 Torontos show dazzling speed hand Ontarios good beating Some Good Team Play The Toronto World 1914 01 08 Retrieved 2018 11 23 St Pats came from behind to beat Canadiens The Montreal Gazette 1920 12 27 Retrieved 2018 11 23 Rangers new sticks for Quaker contest selected with care Not many curve shots in league Harold C Burr The Brooklyn Daily Eagle 1930 11 29 Retrieved 2018 11 23 Montreal Gazette February 3 1943External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Harry Cameron Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects com or Hockey Reference com or Legends of Hockey or The Internet Hockey Database Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Harry Cameron amp oldid 1058515006, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
